Work Text:
As of right now, Cyrus is blaming his current problem on the stress that’s resulted from Buffy’s recent departure.
Yeah. That’s it. Not because Jonah caused their thighs to touch by sliding in next to him on his side of the booth or anything.
“You wanna split the fry I’m getting?”
“Huh?” He jumps, frantically looking around at his surroundings in The Spoon. It’s pretty hard to look him in the face.
“Yeah.” His words have been recalled. “Okay.”
Maybe eating will fix this. It won’t. He knows it won’t.
“You alright?”
“Me? Yeah! Just uh, still upset about Buffy leaving. Haha.”
“I know.” Jonah pities. “Me too. But hey.” Him touching Cyrus’ shoulder only breaks said boy into a cold sweat.
“I’m here for you.”
“Haha.” If Cyrus looks into Jonah’s eyes any longer he’s going to have an anxiety attack.
Returning is Andy, with her milkshake and what is now the boys’ basket of fries.
“Here you go.” She sits across from Cyrus, sliding the basket over to Jonah and putting down her shake.
“Thanks.” He smiles, pushing the fries closer towards Cyrus.
Cyrus takes a fry and chews it carefully, scared that how he consumes food is somehow going to interfere with his issue.
“Are you okay? You’re distracted.” Andi points out.
He gulps down his food. “Yeah. I’m just...hungry.”
“You can have those.” Jonah kindly offers.
“Aha…”
“What up chodesters.” Enter TJ, the offbeat kid from Buffy’s Jefferson Middle basketball team that grew strangely attached to her and ended up latching onto their group.
The girls still think he’s kind of annoying, but not enough to refuse his company. Except Andi must admit that having Buffy around made him much more tolerable.
Jonah, being the easygoing person that he is, has nothing bad to say about him. Except there is just one problem.
“Hey.” Cyrus smiles, trying to seem casual despite what’s still playing out.
It’s him who’s he’s turned the fondest.
“How’re things?”
“Gloomy without Buffy.” Andi says.
“Yeah, I miss her too…” TJ eyes the basket of fries. “You guys gonna finish those?” He gets easily distracted.
“They barely even started them.” Andi tells him.
As much as Cyrus would love to sit here and wait for his problem to disappear, he can’t do it in the presence of other people. Especially around the person whose simple touch is at fault for it.
“Uh, can someone get me a menu? I’m gonna order something else.”
“You have the menu memorized.” Andi’s brow furrows.
“I don’t. I’m hungry too. I’ll get one.” TJ gets up and returns with one in hand.
“Could I see that quick? I uh, think they added something new…” Cyrus claims, TJ sliding it over.
“Thanks.” Cyrus sets it in his lap. “Uh, I need to use the bathroom.”
Jonah gets up and stands aside for him to exit the booth.
“What’re you bringing the menu for?” TJ asks, Cyrus now walking away with the menu in front of his waist.
“Uhhh reading material. Get the baby taters! They’re really good.”
The remaining three exchange skeptical looks when he’s gone.
“What’s wrong with him?” Andi wonders.
“Runs?” TJ assumes.
“He had one fry.”
“I’ll go see.”
“Uh I can.” Jonah insecurely mentions.
“Nah, I got this. I’m good with spazzes.” TJ leaves Andi and Jonah watching him depart with puzzled eyes.
Cyrus is lucky he made it to a stall in time.
“Who is that?”
“Me.”
“Oh, good. It’s you. Well it’s still not good, but, I’m assuming you know about this stuff.” Except it won’t make it any easier to say.
“Why’re you hiding?”
“I’m having a...physical issue.”
“Ah.” TJ understands perfectly. “Did I interrupt you? Sorry dude.”
“What? No!”
“Then how else do you expect to get rid of it?”
“I dunno. I just thought I’d wait in private.” Cyrus admits.
“Alright.” TJ whips out his phone. “We’re going to gore dot com. Come out here.”
“No! You’re not gonna show me gore to put a stop to this.” Cyrus refuses, coming out with the menu appropriately in place.
“Can I read that?”
“No! I’m...using it.”
“Alright.” TJ’s back to the point. “So, did this happen randomly or because you saw that cute cashier behind the counter?”
“Uh…” Cyrus would rather not say. “After Jonah sat down?” It’s true.
“Wait. Jonah?” TJ realizes.
“N-no! I just said it happened to happen after he sat down…” Cyrus’ face is flushed.
“You like Jonah?”
“Stop thinking that I never said that!”
“Alright. I’ll ask again later.”
He frowns.
“Now, what would you say is your least favorite kind of porn?”
“TJ, you’re not grossing away my boner.”
“Fine, then. Guess you’ll have to get it down the old fashioned way. Take my phone. Just delete the history when you’re done.”
“No! That is not happening.”
“Then I guess it’s staying. I’m sure it’s not even that noticeable. Lemme see.”
“No, dude!”
“Would you rather me see it or Jonah?”
Deeply sighing with heavy regret, Cyrus slowly removes the menu from in front of his waist.
“Finally.” TJ takes the menu and opens it up. “What’d you say was good here, again?”
Cyrus’ eyes roll. “Will you focus?” He knocks the menu to the ground.
The door opens, and there’s Jonah expecting anything but Cyrus’ bulge to be staring him down from fifteen feet away.
He’s fifty percent suspicious, forty percent envious, and ten percent aroused. Jonah, that is.
Cyrus, meanwhile, is already planning his move to another planet. This certainly isn’t eliminating the very problem.
“It’s not what it looks like!” TJ blurts, sprinting out of there in which Cyrus takes major offense. Going back to being utterly mortified, he looks down at the tiled floor with an increasingly flushing face.
With each step Jonah takes in his direction, the tighter his eyes close and faster his heart sinks.
Standing before him, Jonah picks up the menu off the floor.
“Reading material, huh?” He teases, Cyrus guffawing his eyes open and still struggling to directly look at him.
Jonah adores the adrenaline on his face and life in his eyes.
“I mean, hey, if that’s what you’re into I’m not judging.” He keeps it up, Cyrus proceeding to laugh at not only his humor but this entire situation.
“Jesus.” He whispers with a smile, glancing at the ceiling and waiting for the color in his face to fade.
“Is that why you were acting so strange?”
“Yeah.” He awkwardly chuckles, making steady eye contact.
“And, it’s not about food?” Jonah jokes.
“No.” Cyrus beams, Jonah unable to bite his tongue on this last question.
“Is it about TJ?”
Cyrus almost starts guffawing all over again.
“Wha-?” Bewildered by such ridiculousness, he tries laughing the question away into obscurity. “ Him? No way. He was not the cause of this.”
That’s all Jonah needed to hear. “So, it was just random? ‘Cause that’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Happens all the time.”
“Uh, not exactly. Your thigh kinda touched mine, and…”
“Ohhh.” Jonah assumes it was due strictly to the physical contract. That it had nothing to do with who Cyrus was making physical contact with.
“That’s just your body’s way of reacting sometimes when you’re close to someone.”
Cyrus appreciates Jonah’s lesson on the whats and whys of boners, but he’s gonna need him to hear what’s next. Before he loses the confidence and to.
“It wasn’t just that. It was you. Actually it was all you.” He admits, Jonah taking a turn at gaping and blushing.
“Like...You’re attracted to me?”
“Severely. N-not in a creepy way though n-not as in I only want one thing from you not that you’re not eligible in that category.” Cyrus is gonna end up buried if he digs himself any deeper.
Yet Jonah is willing to lie there with him. “Remember at one of Buffy’s games when I was sitting next to you with my legs crossed?”
Cyrus lights up. “Really?”
“It’s more than that, though. I guess what I’m trying to say, is, you give me butterflies, too.” Jonah can’t contain his grin.
Cyrus is so insanely flattered that he almost doesn’t notice his inconvenience finally retreating.
TJ runs back in with his phone. “I got the gore.”
“TJ no it’s-oh my God what are you showing me stop!” Cyrus yells when the screen’s shiver in his face.
“Crazy, right? The guy’s face literally melted off.”
“Yeah. Awesome.” Cyrus is looking away with shut eyes. “You can go now.” They open.
TJ turns to Jonah. “You wanna see it?”
“Maybe later.”
Cyrus is choosing to look past that.
“Cool...I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”
“Kind of.” Cyrus stresses.
“Oh. Hey look, it’s down!” He’s just noticing. “I’ll be out there.” He takes the menu from Jonah, leaving them to scoff and beam at each other with shaking heads.
“You seriously think I liked him?” Cyrus asks.
“Why not? He’s a trip, and so much cooler than me.”
Cyrus laughs, having to agree with that first part.
“Then there’s you.” Jonah grins.
“Yeah, what about me?”
“Don’t even get me started on you.” Jonah teases, Cyrus blushing like crazy and currently too stunned to bombard him with the same kind of things.
“You’re just-too amazing to be put into words. Or for me to make sense, apparently.” Jonah smirks, giggling amongst him and stepping closer his way.
“So, like, if I kissed you-“
“Don’t even worry about it.” Cyrus grabs his face and brings together their lips, leaving their bodies separated just in case.
This time, it’s nothing more than sparks and butterflies.